re: 30 Year Anniversary: Which of these 1996 half ton trucks would you select?

My first vehicle was a 1996 Chevy Silverado with the Vortec 350... incredible machine, and i want it back

I had a 96 ford! Loved it. Lady ran a stop sign and t- boned me. Totaled it!

Man I loved that old truck, but it would have been unrealistic for me to keep it unless I had somewhere to store it. I had a 1992 Nissan hardbody in 1996. That thing is probably still running somewhere in Mexico.

That Chevy 350/5.7 vortec never got over 265hp in the trucks. Got to 305 and 325 in the camero and trans am.

That said, give me a Chevy Z71 out of those 3.

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5.7 liter 350 pushing about 300 hp max but it was bullet proof

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Well not quite. The '96 L31 5.7L Vortec was the first year of the 2-1/2 year run of that engine. By the end of '98 the LS motors were coming out and the L31 was retired. The L31's made good power but had issues from the start.
The intake manifolds leaked because of a newly designed plastic gasket and an under torqued diagonal mounting bolts. The early formula of Dexcool caused corrosion when it leaked past the gasket seal which introduced new problems. Most owners went back to a FelPro thick fiber gasket and increased the torque and that cured that issue.
While most of GM's engines were already using CDI coil pack ignition systems, GM introduced the "crab style" distributor that used plastic hold downs to mount the cap. Wasn't long before the plastic became brittle and cracked or broke. The LS engines went to an entirely different ignition setup.
The fuel injection system design was horrible. The fuel distribution unit and regulator was sandwiched between the two halves of the intake manifold causing a less than optimum airflow through the unit and the fuel hoses. The added EGR system dumped an excessive amout of carbon in that area which added to the problems.

Shown is the lower half of the intake manifold with the fuel injection unit, regulator and hoses that I removed from my '97 Tahoe. I ported and polished it before I reinstalled the whole mess. Imagine vacuum air trying to navigate through that jungle of obstructions? Once again, the LS engines went to entirely different set up.
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Hell yeah, that 300 inline 6 was Fords best pickup engine.

The Ford with a 300 straight 6.

I wondered. It doesn’t have the 3rd door but I think that was only an option in 1996.

Wheels? What’s the tell? Thanks.

Now if one really wanted a unique truck from 1996:

Ford at the time, but the Chevy today.